Italy - Factors to watch on May 23

Reuters has not verified the newspaper reports, and cannot vouch for their accuracy. New items are marked with (*).

For a complete list of diary events in Italy please click on .

POLITICS

An attempt by a little-known professor to become Italy’s next prime minister hit a hurdle on Tuesday following allegations that he had inflated his academic credentials.

The leader of Italy’s far-right League said on Tuesday he would like to see eurosceptic economist Paolo Savona as economy minister in the government he is trying to form with the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement.

DEBT

Treasury announces sale of CTZ and BTPei bonds, with relative amounts to be auctioned on May 28.

(*) BPER BANCA

CEO Alessandro Vandelli told Il Sole 24 Ore in an interview the bank had found a potential investor for the mezzanine and junior tranches in a 1 billion euro bad loan securitisation sale currently underway and was confident it would close another 2 billion euro one by the end of the year, as previously indicated. Vandelli confirmed the bank would pay a higher dividend over 2018 results and said the new business plan due in September would focus on boosting the bank’s fee business. He added the bank’s bad loan unit had drawn interest though BPER was focused on its bad loan reduction plan at present.

(*) AZIMUT HOLDING

Top shareholder Timone Fiduciaria, which is owned by the group’s managers and employees, is in talks to bring in a private equity fund as a new investor, Il Sole 24 Ore reported, adding a possible candidate was British fund Peninsula Capital.

UNIPOLSAI, UNIPOL

Unipol group has bought a further 0.56 percent of UnipolSai to take its overall stake to 75.26 percent on May 16.

DATALOGIC

Annual and extraordinary shareholders’ meetings (0900 GMT).

(*) FIERA MILANO

The Milan trade fair group said on Wednesday it targeted an average yearly core profit of 28-32 million euros under a new 2018-2022 plan on revenues of 260-280 million euros per year.